By Alec Clayton Washington State’s Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna offered up a fitting end to a glittering night of art at the Washington Center‘s “Center Salon” on Friday, April 12. Castro Luna called her suite of poems “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” as inspired by the Tina Turner song of the same …
By Todd B. Gruel Rise Up is a tribute band with a purpose. The Seattle-based ensemble performs music from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s acclaimed Hamilton, a Broadway musical which has scored 11 Tony’s, a Grammy and even a Pulitzer. Not bad for hip-hop theater performance about one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. …
By ADAM McKINNEY Though its four members now reside in Portland, Oregon, Old Time Relijun began life in Olympia. Indeed, few bands feel quite as much like Olympia: ambitiously odd, disarmingly immediate and unafraid of experimentation. The fiery noise-rock group got its start in the ’90s, eventually releasing eight knockout albums through 2007 before going …
By LUCY VOLKER This spring Olympia Family Theater will revisit the playful musical production Go, Dog. Go! “Eight colorful dogs will bustle, frolic, dance, scoot, work, sleep, play, sing and party across the stage as they move through their days,” says artistic director Jen Ryle. “Whether working, picnicking or preparing for bed, their playful antics will …
By TODD B. GRUEL Julia Shapiro, guitarist and singer for Chastity Belt, considers what feminism means in the 21st century for an all-female band. “To me,” she decides, “it just means being a person with multiple identities, one of them being female, and not having to really think about the fact that I’m a woman …
By MELINDA MINTON Henry Ibsen wrote the play A Doll’s House as a daring portrait of a man who loves his wife as an equal. While that concept remains fresh in the #MeToo era, 150 years ago the thought of an equal partnership between man and wife was shocking. Ibsen himself said, as he was writing it …
By ALEC CLAYTON The Washington Center for the Performing Arts celebrates local artists of all stripes in its fourth-annual Center Salon. This year’s event will be headed by playwright Bryan Willis, OLY ARTS’ contributing editor and founder of the Northwest Playwrights Alliance. It features music, poetry, short stories and theater. “We’re looking forward to featuring Washington …
By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL Janae Huber and other citizens launched the group Olympians for People-Oriented Places in 2015. Their goal was to support a compact, diverse Olympia designed around attractive public spaces. Abbreviated O-POP, the organization recognizes the challenges of housing an estimated thousand new residents each year without sacrificing environmental protections or civic beauty. Toward …
By KAREN LUNDE Coppelia arrives at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts April 18 through 20, bringing a tale of mayhem, mischief and mistaken identities. Studio West Dance Theatre’s production follows the antics of Swanhilda and her friends as they try to discover the identity of Coppélia, a mysterious woman who’s enthralled Swanhilda’s fiancé, Franz. “Coppélia is the …
By MELINDA MINTON Olympia Symphony Orchestra’s grand finale for its 66th season provides the experience of visiting characters its audience will immediately recognize. The group’s upcoming concert, Cast of Characters, subtitled “an overture in four parts,” could also refer to the players themselves, whom conductor Huw Edwards calls “a cast of characters and a microcosm of society.” The show …